Vine turner

ABSTRACT

An implement to be mounted forward of a farm vehicle and including structural members that are vertically adjustable. Vine deflecting members are slidably mounted to the structural members to allow lateral adjustment of the deflecting members relative to the wheels of the vehicle. The deflecting members lift encountered vines and then push them laterally away from the path of the vehicle to permit its free passage.

United States Patent 1 Nichols et al.

[ 1 VINE TURNER [76] Inventors: John J. Nichols, 2325 NW. 17th St.,Oklahoma City, Okla. 73107; Arvel L. Cowell, Rt. 1, Box 98-A, Morrilton,Ark. 72110 [22] Filed: Sept. 3, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 69,318

[52] US. Cl 172/517, 172/276, 172/484 [51] Int. Cl A0111 35/32 [58]Field of Search 172/27, 29, 508, 172/516, 517, 514, 515

[56] I References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,466,555 4/1949 Paine eta] 172/517 X 2,187,833 1/1940 Lock et al 172/517 X 2,305,254 12/1942Hirschkorn 172/517 X 1,789,563 1/1931 Quinan 172/517 X [111 3,744,571[451 July 10,1973

1,747,291 2/1930 Edwards 172/27 2,664,806 l/l954. McCready 172/5172,064,480 12/1936 Lock et al 172/517 X 981,728 l/l9ll Whiteman et a1.172/29 Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfrey Assistant Examiner-R; T. RaderAttorney-Clarence A. OBrien and Harvey B. Jacobson [5 7] ABSTRACT Animplement to be mounted forward of a farm vehicle and includingstructural members that are vertically adjustable. Vine deflectingmembers are slidably mounted to the structural members to allow lateraladjustment of the deflecting members relative to the wheels of thevehicle. The deflecting members lift encountered vines and then pushthem laterally away from the path of the vehicle to permit its freepassage.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures PAIENIED Jul 0 Fig.3

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VINE TURNER During the present time, several implements mountedforwardly of a farm vehicle are available for parting or dividing vinesthat block free passage of the vehicle down a field row. Generally, theavailable devices are angled downwardly from a vertically adjustableframe member. In essence, the device acts as a cow catcher secured tothe forward end of oldfashioned locomotives. While reasonable successwith certain crop vines has been achieved, known implements do notoperate satisfactorily when it is desired to deflect tender vines for asmuch as 18 or 20 inches without damaging the vines.

The present invention is directed to a vine deflecting implement whichhas deflecting members both vertically and laterally adjustable. Theparticular design of the present implement not only allows its use onsturdy vines but also on tender vines. Accordingly, the presentinvention offers the farmer a vine deflecting or turning implement thatcan be used on a far greater variety of vines than previously possible.

Further, installation of the present invention is expedient because theimplement can be mounted on a tractor or other farm vehicle without muchtrouble. By using the present invention, the farmer is able to traversefields covered by vines in an efficient manner resulting in costsavings.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter describedand claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming apart hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view illustrating the implement of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the implement shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the implement illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a device which directlydeflects vines on the ground of field rows through which a farm vehiclemust pass.

Referring to the figures and more particularly FIG. 1, reference numeralgenerally indicates the vine turner or deflector that forms the presentinvention. The implement is mounted to the forward end of a conventional farm vehicle 12, such as a tractor.

As shown in FIG. 3, connection between the implement and the vehicle isperformed by utilizing a U- shaped brace 14' having its bight portion 16juxtaposed against the forward end 17 of the farm vehicle 12. Uppositelydisposed arms 18 and 20 extend forwardly of the bight portion l6= andserve to mount the rear portions 26 of longitudinally disposed andforwardly extending frame sections 22 and 24. Securement between therearward end portion 26 of the frame sections and the arms 18 and 20 ofthe U-shaped member is accomplished by means of bolts 28.

As will be noted from FIG. 1, frame sections 22 and 24 (FIG. 3) eachincludes an angular offset portion 30 forwardly appending to anintermediate horizontal portion 32 that extends forwardly to a crossmember 34 that connects the forward outer ends of the two frame sections22 and 24. The frame sections are disposed in parallel spacedrelationship as shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 3 further shows that the framesections are disposed somewhat laterally outwardly from the sides of theve hicle body but are positioned inwardly from the front wheels 23 ofthe vehicle. Reference numeral 25 (FIG. 2) denotes the conventionalinverted U-shaped axle of the tractor.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a mounting bracket 36 is positioned betweenthe central portions 32 of frame sections 22 and 24. The rearwardclievis end 38 of a hydraulic cylinder 40 is connected to the bracketwhile a forward clevis end of the cylinder plunger is pivotallyconnected to a link member 42. FIG. 3 shows the forward end of thelatter mentioned link member fixedly connected to a central point 44along the bight portion of a generally U-shaped crank member 46journaled in a sleeve 47 that is welded to the cross member 34. As willbe appreciated by viewing FIG. 1, the hydraulic cylinder 40 extendsforwardly and upwardly at an acute angle with respect to the horizontalwhile the link member 42 extends upwardly and rearwardly at an acuteangle. The arm portions 48 and 50 of the U-shaped member 47 form a bellcrank assembly with link 42. The free end of each arm 48, 50 ispivotally attached to a vertically disposed actuator link member 52, 54respectively. For purposes of convenience, further connections ofimplement members to the vertically disposed link members 52 and 54 willbe discussed relative only to the member 54. It is to be understood byviewing FIGS. 1-3 that a similar symmetrical constructionexists relativeto vertical link member 52.

Viewing FIG. 1, the lower end] of the vertical link member 54 ispivotally connected to an intermediate point on a lower link member 58that forms part of a parallelogram linkage assembly 56. The link member54 is an actuator for the assembly 56. The remainder of the linkageassembly includes a vertically disposed bracket 60 pivotally connectingthe forward ends ofthe link member 58 and a second link member 64positioned in parallel spaced relation to-the link member 58. A secondvertically disposedbracket 62 connects the opposite ends of the linkmembers 58 and 64 thereby completing the parallelogram linkage assembly56. In operation of the device, the parallelogram linkage assembly iselevatable and will be displaced upwardly or downwardly in response tocommensurate expansion or contraction of the cylinder 40. The controllines (not shown) connected to the cylinder 40 extend rearwardly to thehydraulic system of the vehicle 12, and a conventional control valve(not shown) con- 62 by a V-shaped bracket which engages the other twoedges of beam 68. The brackets 62 and 70 are clamped together with aU-shaped bolt 72.

Viewing FIGS. I and 3, a first vine deflecting assembly 74 is seen to bepositioned on the outward end portion of the beam 68.The assembly 74includes a square collar that is slidably adjustable on the beam 68.Setserew in the collar 78 fixes its position relative to the beam. Aguide element 82 is integrally connected to the collar 78 and receivesthe shank portion 84 of a deflecting device 85 that is shown in FIGS. 1and 4. A setscrew 86 clamps the shank portion in the guide element. Thelower end of the shank terminates in a shoe 87 that tends to engageencountered vines and lifts them up off the ground. Two angularly shapeddeflecting rods 88 and 90 have offset end portions 89 that are welded toa surface of the shoe portion 87. Deflecting rod 88 is longer than rod90 and rod 88 is disposed laterally inwardly with respect to rod 90.However, the rods are maintained in parallel spaced relation. By viewingFIG. 3, it will be observed that the rods extend laterally outwardly andrearwardly at an acute angle with respect to the forward travel path.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the assembly 74 ispositioned outwardly adjacent the parallelogram linkage assembly 56while the second deflecting assembly 76 is positioned inwardly adjacentthe linkage assembly 56. The deflection assembly 76 includes a collarand guide element similar to 78 and 82, respectively, previouslyexplained in connection with the deflecting assembly 74. However, thedeflecting rods 92 and 94 corresponding to the aforementioned deflectingrods 88 and 90, extend laterally inwardly and rearwardly as opposed tolaterally outwardly and rearwardly as was the case with the deflectingrods 88 and 90. The angular orientation of the deflecting rodsassociated with the deflecting assembly 74 and 76 is purposely designedso that the intermediate point between the deflecting assemblies willgenerally be in vertical alignment with the line along which adjacentrows of vines overlap. Thus, as the vehicle travels forwardly,deflecting rods 88 and 90 will contact vines lifted by the shoe portion87 of the deflecting device 85 and after so contacting the vines, thedeflecting rods will push them laterally out of the travel path.Similarly but oppositely the deflecting rods 92 and 94 will pushencountered vines laterally inwardly out of the path of travel. In manyinstances, it has been found necessary to lower the shoe portion 87 ofthe deflecting device 85 into burrowing engagement with the ground inorder to achieve proper vine lift. Inasmuch as two vine deflectingassemblies 74, 76 push back overlapping vines to their respective sides,these vines need not undergo extensive deflection which would causetheir damage in the case of tender vines. Further, the offset parallelrelationship between the deflecting rods relating to each assemblyincreases the deflecting efficiency of the rods.

As will be appreciated from viewing FIGS. 2 and 3, a symmetrical pair ofvine deflecting assemblies can be found at the opposite end portion ofcross-beam 68.

As shown in FIG. 1, rearwardly disposed horizontal connecting members 96support a second cross-beam 98 rearwardly positioned in horizontalalignment with the aforementioned cross-beam 68. A V-shaped slot isformed in the rearwardend portion of each connecting member 96, thenotches serving to receive the crossbeam 98'. U-shaped clamps 100 areused to secure the cross-beam 98 to the connecting members 96. Thepurpose of the cross-beam 98 is similar to that of beam 68, namely, tosupport a pair of vine deflecting assemblies on each end portion of thebeam. In this respect, a vine deflecting assembly 102 is positioned oncross-beam 98 in laterally outwardly spaced relation to theaforementioned vine deflecting assembly 74. This latter mentioneddeflecting assembly includes deflecting rods 106, 108 that are laterallyoutwardly disposed in parallel spaced relation to the rods 88 and 90 ofthe vine defleeting assembly 74. When a forwardly positioned vine isencountered by the deflecting rods 88 and 90, the vines are pushedlaterally outwardly as the vehicle moves forward. Then, the vines willbe contacted by rods 106 and 108 for further laterally outward bending.The free ends of the rods 106 and 108 are well beyond the left tire 23thereby preventing the vines encountered by these rods from engaging theleft tire 23.

An additional vine deflecting assembly 110 is positioned on beam 98 inlaterally inwardly spaced relation to the assembly 102. A median pointbetween the assemblies 102 and 110 falls along the centerline that islaterally aligned with the path of travel of the left wheel 23. A collar112 identical to the previously discussed collars of the aforementioneddeflecting assemblies allows adjustment of the deflecting assembly 110along the length of beam 98. Deflecting rods 114 and 116 are associatedwith the deflecting assembly 110 and serve the same purpose as discussedin connection with the aforementioned deflecting rods. However, as willbe noted, the rods 114 and 116 extend laterally inwardly with respect torods 92 and 94 of deflecting assembly 76. A symmetrical structure existsat the opposite end of beam 98. Thus, when vines are encountered by rods94 and 92 they are pushed laterally inwardly. As the vehicle movesforward, the deflected vines are then contacted by the rods 114 and 116that continue to bend the vines laterally inwardly to allow free passageof the left wheel 23 along the path of the parted vines. Of course, asthe vehicle progresses, the vine deflecting assemblies 74 and 76 tend tosimultaneously part overlapping vines which are thereafter operated uponsimultaneously by the rearwardly aligned deflecting assemblies 102 and110.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An implement for turning vines out of the path of an approachingvehicle, comprising, in combination:

a. a stationary support frame connected to a vehicle wherein saidvehicle has a front end and a forward direction of movement, said frameextending in the forward direction of movement from said front end andincluding a beam arranged both transversely to the forward direction ofmovement and forwardly of the front end of the vehicle;

b. an elevatable assembly including a fluid cylinder having a one endpivotally connected to the frame and a second end pivotally connected toa link member which is in turn fixedly connected to a bight portion of aU-shaped crank journaled to the frame for being pivotally moved by thecylinder and having arm portions forming a bell crank with the link, afree end of the arm portions pivotally attached to an actuator linkmember wherein said actuator link member is pivotally connected to anintermediate point of a first link member of a parallelogram linkage,and second and third link members forming two sides of the parallelogramlinkage arranged parallel to one another and connected to the first linkmember, one of the second and third link members mounted on the frameand the beam mounted on the other for swinging movement therewith; and Ia deflecting assembly mounted on said beam and having first and seconddeflecting devices, each device including a vertical shank having alower end which forms a means for engaging a vine and lifting the same,and a deflecting member connected at a one end to the shank adjacent thelower end thereof, the member of said first deflecting device divergingfrom the member of the second deflectvehicle.

1. An implement for turning vines out of the path of an approachingvehicle, comprising, in combination: a. a stationary support frameconnected to a vehicle wherein said vehicle has a front end and aforward direction of movement, said frame extending in the forwarddirection of movement from said front end and including a beam arrangedboth transversely to the forward direction of movement and forwardly ofthe front end of the vehicle; b. an elevatable assembly including afluid cylinder having a one end pivotally connected to the frame and asecond end pivotally connected to a link member which is in turn fixedlyconnected to a bight portion of a U-shaped crank journaled to the framefor being pivotally moved by the cylinder and having arm portionsforming a bell crank with the link, a free end of the arm portionspivotally attached to an actuator link member wherein said actuator linkmember is pivotally connected to an intermediate point of a first linkmember of a parallelogram linkage, and second and third link membersforming two sides of the parallelogram linkage arranged parallel to oneanother and connected to the first link member, one of the second andthird link members mounted on the frame and the beam mounted on theother for swinging movement therewith; and c. a deflecting assemblymounted on said beam and having first and second deflecting devices,each device including a vertical shank having a lower end which forms ameans for engaging a vine and lifting the same, and a deflecting memberconnected at a one end to the shank adjacent the lower end thereof, themember of said first deflecting device diverging from the member of thesecond deflecting device and extending toward the front end of thevehicle, each deflecting member separately mounted on said beam andselectively, independently movable therealong laterally of the vehiclefor varying the position thereof, wherein there is a spacing betweensaid first and second deflecting devices which forms adjustable meansfor turning a vine out of a path of an associated wheel of the vehicle.